


Uncomfortable truths (The Umbrella Academy Oneshot)

by Specialtea



Series: The Umbrella Academy Oneshots [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: After Five has left so he is mentioned but not featured ya know, Allison Hargreeves - Freeform, Angst, Diego Hargreeves - Freeform, Five stans scare me, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sad, Sibling Bonding, The Umbrella Academy - Freeform, Umbrella Academy - Freeform, Vanya Hargreeves - Freeform, Wholesome, ben hargreeves - Freeform, klaus hargreeves - Freeform, luther hargreeves - Freeform, mentions of pseudo-incest, mentions of self harm, or else they’ll be mad that he isn’t a featured character, sad children :(, so I’m not gonna put him in the tags, tua - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 11:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18141467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Specialtea/pseuds/Specialtea
Summary: Prompt: In which the rest of the Hargreeves kids find the list Vanya has written about them. (To understand the context of this oneshot you need to read the previous one in my Oneshot series, “35 Secrets of The Umbrella Academy.”)





	Uncomfortable truths (The Umbrella Academy Oneshot)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gheloured](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gheloured/gifts).



> Thanks to Gheloured for suggesting this in the comments of my last oneshot! I hope it lives up to expectations.
> 
> (I had intended for this to be wholesome when I first started writing it, but there was too much sad stuff in the previous instalment that I couldn’t just gloss over and it turned into angst. Oops.)

Vanya has just left the room, rushing off to fetch her violin as dad calls her in for her music lessons. She abandoned her notebook in the study room, that means it’s fair game right? Klaus picks it up, bowing down to Ben and holding it out to him.

“Uh, I dunno Klaus, that’s her private stuff.”

“Well if it was private she shouldn’t have left it unattended in a room of bored teenagers.” Klaus retorted, rolling his eyes and flipping through the book quickly.

“There must be so much dirt in this.” Klaus giggles, sitting down to read it. Allison rolls her eyes, but makes no move to interject as Klaus flips through the pages of her only sister’s notebook.

“Schoolwork, schoolwork, sheet music, shopping list, schoolwork, training notes, more sheet music, some calculations from dear Number Five, and.. ooh! 35 secrets of the umbrella academy.” Klaus lists off each pages contents and stops near the back of the book, reading out one of Vanya’s titles.

The others immediately perk up. Secrets of the Umbrella Academy? Vanya isn’t around enough to know their favourite colours, much less any kind of secrets. Luther says as much, earning him a slap on the arm from Allison. Ben leans over his shoulder, eyes skimming over the page for a moment.

“No, we should really put that back. This is Vanya’s stuff.” He stammers, and Luther laughs incredulously.

“No, no, I want to see what little Vanya thinks she knows about us!” He blond moves towards where Klaus and Ben are sitting, and Ben stands in front of him.

“I really don’t think you want everyone else to hear some of these things. All of you.” He looks around at his first three siblings, but they all scoff.

“Read it out for us, will you Klaus?” Diego calls and Klaus grins, eyes back on the page.

“One. Five didn’t like people to know it, but he... constantly checked in on us to make sure we’re safe.” Klaus’ tone shifts from mocking to sad halfway through the sentence, and the siblings’ faces all drop. They all thought back to a time when they had been upset or hurt after training and Five had popped into their room, making some kind of brisk comment and leaving again. Five was always around, always studying them from afar in every situation.

“Oh.” Allison sighs.  
“So these are actual secrets.” The others nod solemnly, and Luther gestures for Klaus to read out the next one.

“Two. Sometimes, I catch Ben crying to himself at night, and Klaus always pops in to check on him.” Ben’s face is pale as he looks at Number one and three, their faces stony.  
“Diego checks on him too. Neither of them know that I always comfort him last.” Klaus reads the little footnotes that were written under the sentence. Ben goes whiter and Diego starts stammering, before Luther speaks up.

“Why wouldn’t you say anything? And Vanya? How did she realise this was happening but we didn’t!” He demands, gesturing to himself and Allison.

“Well, you two.. and Five as well, were caught up in your own business a lot. I’m sure Five knew, but he wasn’t very comfortable with emotional stuff.” Ben stammers, only making the situation worse as Luther glares at him.

“Are you saying I don’t pay attention? I’m the leader, I always pay attention! This is your fault for not being open about it.” He states, and Klaus looks up from the book with a sly smile on his face.

“What, like you were so open about leaving the porch light on for Five?” He quips, turning the book to face them and pointing at the 13th note, where Vanya states that Luther would always turn the porch light on before she went around turning lights on. Luther turned and stared at Klaus, reading the passage and turning red. He sat back down with a huff.

“Whatever. The porch light switch is high up, I didn’t think Vanya would be able to reach it so I did it for her. It’s not a big deal. Just keep reading.” Nobody believes Luther’s harsh excuse, but they turn their attention back to Klaus.

“Three. When Klaus crashes after being high for a while, Diego always looks after him. They think they’re being sneaky.” Klaus looks up, making eye contact with Diego as he reads the last part. Diego scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“I-y-I just take you to your room! I-it-it isn’t a big d-de-de-deal, I’m just being a good leader. I bet Luther doesn’t even know it happened.” Diego turns his excuse into a dig at Luther, who opens his mouth like he’s about to object when Ben speaks up.

“I didn’t even know that happens, I guess Vanya really does see a lot.” They all sit in grim silence and Klaus reads on.

“Four. Five used to say he hated hugs, and was perfectly capable of teleporting away, but he always stayed anyway.” Klaus said softly, thinking back to all the times Five had objected loudly to any physical affection, yet he stuck around anyway. He swallowed the lump in his throat and kept reading.  
“He rolled his eyes dramatically like he didn’t want to be there, but when he thought nobody could see he smiled softly and held his sibling tighter.” Everyone was silent, wondering how Vanya had noticed all of this while the rest of them thought of Five as self-important and dismissive. The two of them were always close, and the others never understood how someone as weak and timid as Vanya could get along with someone as brash and self-involved as Five.

“Five. Luther is often heard crying in his bedroom whenever someone is hurt on a mission. He always denies it. If you try to go and talk to him, he yells for you to leave and then cries harder. Unless you’re Allison.” Klaus pulls a face at the last part, but the sentiment still remains and they all look to Luther uncertainly. The blond boy just shifts uncomfortably and nods for Klaus to continue reading.

“Six. Everyone in the house has walked in on Allison and Luther kissing before. It’s always weird.” Klaus grins at his siblings as they turn bright red, Allison stammering to defend herself while Luther just sinks further into the couch.

“Seven. Allison acts annoyed often, but never rumours anyone into stopping. You can often see the smile in her eyes as she gets mad at someone for teasing her.” Once again Allison furrows her brows angrily as Diego laughs.

“It’s just because I get in trouble if I rumour one of you!” She retorts, and everyone but Luther rolls their eyes and laughs at her. She relaxes a little and returns Ben’s reassuring smile.

“Eight. Don’t tease Ben about tentacle porn. He gets very upset.” The smile that had been on Ben’s face drops off suddenly, his face going red with embarrassment and anger as he wraps his arms around his stomach as if he’s shielding the monsters from his siblings’ teasing.

“What? It’s weird. Not just for me, it should be weird for everyone. And I don’t want people to think about... that... when they see me.” He mutters, and the rest of his siblings laugh quietly. Klaus conveniently skips over the footnote about a prank he pulled once as he moves on to the next point.

“Nine. Klaus likes to...” He drifts off, face going red as he reads the rest of the note silently. Ben looks over his shoulder, reads the note, and wraps an arm around Klaus as he reads it out.

“Klaus likes to wear heels and dresses and dance around the house when dad isn’t home.” They all smile fondly at Klaus, remembering all the times he would waltz down the stairs in their mother’s clothes and dance around the house wistfully.  
Klaus looks at the support in his siblings’ eyes and clears his throat.

“Ten. Diego can often be found helping mom clean around the house.” Everyone looks to Diego who fidgets, his masculinity threatened.

“What? It’s unfair to expect her to do all of it, this house is massive!” He snaps, and everyone smiles gently at the sweet boy underneath all of Diego’s bravado.

“Eleven. After Five disappeared Allison would spend hours in her room trying to bend reality and bring him back. She’d always cry herself to sleep when it didn’t work.” Allison lets out a choked sob, leaning into Luther.

“I’m sorry. I tried... I tried my best. I tried everything, I can’t get him back. I just... I miss him so much.” She whimpers and Ben goes over to her, wrapping her in a hug and muttering that he misses their brother too.

“Twelve. Diego never stutters when he’s defending one of us. He does stutter when he’s defending himself.” Diego scoffs, his voice shaky when he replies.

“Well, n-no-nobody would take me seriously if I stuttered and y-you guys can’t def-defend yourselves, it-it’s not a big deal.” Klaus rolls his eyes fondly at the excuses his brother makes, and everyone lets out a small chuckle when Diego smiles.

They read through the notes, laughing at embarrassing anecdotes and bonding over their individual moments of sentiment, when Klaus reads out a note that he’ll wish Vanya hadn’t written.

“Twenty. Sometimes I find... bloody razorblades hidden in the bathroom. With the uniform’s long sleeves, I can’t tell who put them there. Whenever one of my siblings is upset, I hide them all, just in case.” The five siblings look around at eachother, trying to determine which one Vanya has been subtly protecting.

“Everyone pull up their sleeves.” Luther demands, so they do. Luther is clean, so are Diego and Allison, but they weren’t really suspects anyway. Everyone looks to Klaus who lifts his forearms into the air, showing the lack of scarring. They all turn to Ben, who had tears in his eyes as he pulled up his sleeves, revealing the scabby red lines that littered his wrists. Klaus sighed at the sight and pulled Ben into a hug, but the others weren’t quite as understanding.

“How could you do that to yourself!”

“What were you thinking?” 

“You should’ve just talked to someone!”

Ben chokes out a sob and leans into Klaus, who’s face is filled with rage.

“Oh please! You three have it easy! You have no idea the kind of shit we go through!” He yells, holding his remaining younger brother closer.

“Oh, do enlighten us on how difficult it is to be high all the time!” Luther snaps back and Diego’s expression stiffens.

“You know that special training I get? The one that you’re so jealous of? The one Vanya says Ben looks like he’s about to murder dad over? It’s not all fun and games, bitchboy.” Klaus snaps, glaring daggers into his brother’s features.

“Oh, what’s so difficult about getting attention from dad! You’ve always been an attention whore, in fact you’re a whore by every definition of the word!” Luther’s tone is cruel and his words bite, and Ben pushes away from his stunned brother, leaving Diego to comfort him and glance furiously at Luther. Ben stands, face to face against their so called leader.

“Shut up Luther, you have no idea what Klaus goes through, what either of us go through! Your power is all fun and games, in fact all three of you have easy powers. You can use them when you want, you never have to worry about them tearing you apart!” Ben snaps, and Luther pauses, worry flashing across his face.

“Yeah, bet you never noticed that! Vanya did, it’s on that list too, I’m starting to think that she’s the only one that pays attention to her siblings around here! And how do you repay her after all she tries to do for us? Looking through her private journal! Exposing everyone’s secrets for your pathetic little power trip!” Ben has never been so angry before, and Luther steps back when the familiar ripple of lovecraftian horror runs across Ben’s abdomen.

“As for why Klaus’ life is so difficult? Let’s just say that he doesn’t spend a lot of time with the living in those special training sessions!” The first three teenagers look puzzled, and Ben rolls his eyes.

“I really am the only person with any brain cells around here! Dad locks him in the mausoleum. You know, the place where that psychotic dickhead throws away dead bodies? He traps Klaus in there and lets the ghosts scream at him under the pretence of ‘getting over his fear of the dead!’ It’s disgusting! You’re all disgusting!” He turns to leave, when his eyes fall upon their little sister standing in the doorway, clutching her violin case with white knuckles and a horrified expression on her face.

“What are you guys doing?” She steps into the room, looking around and spying her notebook sitting open on a chair next to Klaus. Her gaze grows harsh as she turns back to where the majority of her siblings are standing.

“You went through my stuff?” She accuses, and her eyes go wide.  
“You read the list.” She trembles, running over to her notebook and picking it up.

“Vanya, we-“ Luther starts, humbled for once in his life.

“No! Stop trying to defend yourselves! This is awful behaviour, all of you! Ben, you’re protecting your brother and I love you for it, but yelling doesn’t solve anything!” Vanya’s presence has completely changed, she is no longer a timid younger sister but a bold one, determined to talk a little sense into her oblivious siblings.

“Sit down, all of you. Ben, what were you yelling about?”

Ben tells the story from his fairly neutral perspective, and Luther tries to object a few times, each time being silenced by Vanya. He shows her the cuts on his wrists and tells her about Klaus’ special training, and the girl tears up as she hugs her brothers and promises them that she will help them, making promises that she can’t afford to keep but god does she wish she could. 

She turns to Luther and asks for his side of the story. It’s a brief defence of his actions and a few attempted quips at Ben and Klaus for ‘not talking to him’ which Vanya shuts down every time they come up.

“Okay, now. Luther. You say you wanted them to talk to you, but would you have listened? More importantly, what would you have done?”

“I would’ve told dad.” He says assuredly, and Vanya sighs.

“That’s exactly why they don’t talk to you. Dad is not a good person, I can’t believe that you still don’t see that. You’re too caught up in leading everyone to actually pay attention and learn anything about them. Ben says you critisised that I wouldn’t know your favourite colours, but how much do you really know about us?” Luther stutters, looking around at his siblings before muttering something that sounded vaguely defeated.

“And Ben, you and Klaus have it the hardest of all of us, your powers are absolutely burdens and if I could take them away from you I would in a heartbeat, but that doesn’t mean people don’t have their own things going on. Five and I were always the observant ones, but you can never expect someone to help you with something or be sympathetic if they don’t know it’s happening.” Ben nods, not attempting to refute anything she says. If he wasn’t feeling so ashamed of his lashing out, he would be beaming with pride at the way his sister is handling the situation.

“You all need to communicate better, but it’s not your fault we’re like this. Our upbringing hasn’t been exactly typical, that just means we’ll have to try harder to be a family.” Vanya says, and they all mumble their agreements. Vanya forces them to apologise and sits beside Ben, absentmindedly running a finger along his forearm every now and then.

They spend the rest of their day talking and laughing, school books spread on the floor so they can claim to be studying if Reginald or Pogo walk in. Grace makes snacks and the Hargreeves children get along for a rare moment.

Vanya smiles as she sits with her siblings, hoping against hope that the peace will last, though she knows in her heart that it won’t.

Not in this awful house.

Not for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! A comment or kudos is always appreciated, and make sure to bookmark my oneshots series if you are interested, or check out the first oneshot that I wrote that is much more wholesome I swear.
> 
> On another note, I really want to do some song inspired oneshots, so if someone has a song with lyrics they’d like to see affect TUA, leave it in the comments!


End file.
